friday favourites 13.05.11

the only friday 13th spookiness you'll be seeing here

you'd think that the first ever friday the 13th favourites would have to be different, creepy, dangerous. and you'd be wrong. this week was kind of startlingly average. a couple of beautiful days definitely made it nice to get outside. finding out that, despite having taking all the proscribed precautions, some asshat still managed to access our internet account and run up over $500 in extra charges [for which our supplier videotron politely but firmly insists, in the face of reason, that we are liable] was sort of a downer. i think i'd give videotron the money if they'd give me the exact location of the person that got into my account. however, since that isn't happening, i'm entering another telecommunications battle. just the thing i need, how nice.

in fact, it seems like the last little while has been particularly embattled. perhaps it's just that i've reached the end of my patience with a lot of things, which means that i'm reorganising those things into groups: what i can walk away from and what i have to deal with. there are enough of the latter that i have no problem sweeping a lot into the former. i guess "choose your battles" is great advice, but it isn't always practical.

well that's an all-out crappy way to start a piece about the things that made the week better. this is what happens when i'm cut off from my ranting outlet for more than 24 hours. the indignation just builds up and has nowhere to go. but if anything, that just indicates how important it is for me to take this time and think about good, positive things. [thank you, firemen, for choosing this moment to pause in front of my office window with your siren and horns blaring. deep breath. they're off rescuing someone. the system is working. happy thoughts.]

well dammit, let's get to the happy stuff.

ALL THE HAPPY STUFF IS AFTER THE BREAK, ALONG WITH YOUR WEEKLY CAT



bring that blog back! :: ok, it was down for 20 hours and between the scheduled maintenance [being a night owl, i'm one of the people whose schedule is actually thrown off by these things], post-maintenance wonkiness and that blackout, the last couple of days have been a good reminder to all of us bloggers how insignificant we really are. frustratingly, the world kept turning and people went about their lives much as they always do, without my acerbic political commentary, musical mumblings or disproportionately passionate ramblings on makeup, shoes or other accoutrements of modern life.

thankfully, i can now return to the illusion that there is a quiet, secret world hanging on my every post. since i've only had to ponder the possibility of my own insignificance once in almost six years of having this repository for my random thoughts and interests, i suppose that blogger can be forgiven.

fresca :: it is perhaps fitting that, since all my tastes seem to lean towards the periphery, that my favourite type of soda would be one that's so unpopular that you need to send out search parties to find it for you. it's sometimes available in supermarkets, right out in the open. but not all super-markets. and not always at the same super-market where you found it last time. it's almost never available in convenient, single purchase form, which sort of sucks for me, because i don't consume much soda as a rule.

but i threw down a challenge this week and dom answered, tracking and capturing a case of the stuff like the hunter-gatherers of old. and now i have fresca, which i'm tempted to drink, but which i'm also tempted to store in a vault somewhere, because you just never know.

i'm not sure why fresca is so unpopular, or why- since it's been around for as long as i have which means that someone, somewhere is drinking this stuff besides me- it seems to occupy such a consistently dark and cobwebby corner of the soda market. perhaps people mistrust its cloudy appearance, since most pale-coloured soft drinks are clear. perhaps it's the fact that it's grapefruit- flavoured makes it seem a little daunting. believe me, on that last one, i sympathise. one of the reasons i've been unwilling to take my chances with store-brand substitutes is because i'm afraid that they'll actually taste like grapefruit.

it's sort of an added irony to how much i've always loved this strange little soda that, having detested even the scent of grapefruit since childhood, i finally decided to give it a try a few years ago [hey, i used to hate lots of things, but i've killed a lot of taste buds since then], only to discover that i'm actually allergic to the stuff. which speaks to just how terrifyingly artificial fresca must be, because i can drink litres of the stuff. ach, there are worse things i do to my body, i'm sure.

aging like claret? :: on my way home last friday night i noticed a group of young punks- literal young punks, a group of three or four guys,  all of whom i would guess to be about 18, dressed exactly like punk guys did when i was in my early teens, when i thought they were the hottest things in the world. i think i sort of smiled inadvertently when i saw them, because it was somehow reassuring that there are still guys with jeans and red suspenders, close-cropped hair when they have hair at all, band logos scribbled on their jackets [and for some of the same bands]... anyway, it made me feel sort of nostalgic. what surprised me was that one of them smiled back and, a minute later, came over, shook my hand and asked me if i wanted to go to a house party with them. until i remembered the lateness of the hour, i thought that maybe i was being invited along so that they had someone who was old enough to get the beer, but the invitation seemed sincere enough [for all i know, he lost a bet] and it felt kind of nice, since i was never, ever cool enough for the punk guys in halifax to take any notice of me. there's never anything wrong with getting a reminder that you still have it. i didn't go to the house party.

frank bretschneider, photo courtesy of dominic f. marceau

elektra-spectacle :: i mentioned last week that i was looking forward to catching a couple of shows at this year's elektra festival, especially since i'm unlikely to attend any of the shows at either kinetik or mutek this year. it was nice to see that the excellent minimalist electronic label raster-noton send over a fresh group of artists to tickle our eardrums. mark fell [friday], frank bertschneider and kangding ray [both saturday] all put on excellent shows, but i really have to hand it to bertschnider for testing the limits of the always awe-inspiring sound system at usine c. and thanks again to the always genial mr. p for his company both nights.










the owl and the pussycat :: ok, other than cats, owls are my favourite animals in the world, so it's like someone had me in mind when they made this video. [except the music... just put the sound on mute. thanks to sd for finding this.]

you know, i'm going to have to draw the line there if i have any hope of getting this posted at all, but it does occur to me that this was actually a pretty good week indeed. so the friday favourites system works, at least for me [and, as a blogger, i am the centre of my own virtual universe].

i'm missing the friends who i got to see last week for certain and i'm steeling myself for a couple of battles in the days upcoming, but hopefully there will be enough bright spots to make those seem bearable. this week, i actually don't have specific things that i'm looking forward to. the fact that it's supposed to rain for the next four to five days gives me a good excuse to do some serious spring cleaning and get my closets organised- they're in a sad, sad state of disrepair, and i've been limited to wearing only those shoes that have migrated to the front of the closets, because they're the only ones i can find. how horrible! i do have a feeling that i'll be sneaking out to check out the events of international fluevog day on sunday, because we should all celebrate the work of artisans we love. and while i am absolutely going to be doing some work, i have a feeling that there will also be some quality time spent on my sofa watching my two new addictions, msnbc and top chef canada, most likely while giving myself a summery manicure courtesy of chanel's new "mimosa" nail polish.

and chances are that while i'm doing this [the cocooning on the sofa, not the cleaning bit] i'll have some company from the furry feline family. and it'll probably end up looking something like this ::

thanks as always for reading and godspeed in the coming days. don't forget to check out the now-complete 30 days of lips odyssey, as well as the ongoing saga of adela landis in the as-yet-untitled serial story!